It's definitely a small world after all and I'm not just talking about the ride in Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom.
You know how sometimes you go somewhere and run into people you know from home? Well it becomes down right ironic when it happens multiple times.
The first time this happened, we were at the check in counter at Philadelphia International Airport. I heard a voice call my teenage daughter Kelly's name and say "Hi." My first thought was: Who here would know my daughter?
It was her Math teacher, his wife (who is her guidance counselor) and their daughter. It turned out, they were headed to Walt Disney World too. And not only that, they were on our plane and sitting right behind us! Fast forward to the following summer. Just before school lets out, Kelly sees her math teacher and guidance counselor and tells them we're going to Disney again. Ironically, so are they! This time they weren't on our plane however we were there during the same week and at the same resort.
So this year Kelly is graduating from high school. She doesn't ask for a BMW for graduation (thankfully!), she asks for a trip to Disney one more time before starting college. So we make our plans to go and of course, she checks in with her teacher and guidance counselor to see if they're going too...and guess what? They are!
While our weeks don't quite align (we're leaving Disney one day after their arrival), we have to laugh at the irony of it all.
And it's not just that family we've run into that we know while vacationing in Disney. A couple years ago we were in Disney Quest when my husband saw someone he knew that worked at one of The Mercury's sister papers.
While on our honeymoon, my husband and I were talking to the cast member at the gift shop at our resort and learned that she was good friends with someone my husband knew here in PA. Then there was the bus ride to the parks last year where we got to talking to people and found out that we both knew some of the same people from the Boyertown area.
Now I think we've gone beyond coincidences and can truly say: It's A Small World after all!

Summer is almost here and everyone is thinking about vacation so I have to tell you what weeks in Disney are on my list of "when NOT to go."
July 4th week is number one. My family vacationed there during that week in 2001. On the Fourth, we had to get to the Magic Kingdom early because it was rumored that the park reaches capacity early in the day and then they no longer allow entrance. And that's exactly what happened. The temperature was well into the upper 90's, lines were extra long. We needed to stay for the 3 p.m. parade to watch my husband in the Boyertown Alumni Band march down Main Street in the parade. Well worth the heat and crowds to see :)
The week of Thanksgiving is another busy week in Disney with families taking advantage of the extra days off school so their children don't miss an entire week of school.
Another week I avoid Disney is the week of Christmas. While the weeks leading up to it are quite pleasant, I understand that week is at least as crowded as July 4th.
A lot of people say summers are crowded. I say it depends on when in the summer you go. I've been there in June, July and August and I'm headed back this summer again. I'm another parent who would prefer not taking the kids out of school for an entire week during the school year.
Last summer we were there at the end of June and it was not overly crowded. The crowds in early December were also bearable.
This year will be our third trip in the month of August and while I'll admit it is hot, we take advantage of the fact that many of the schools in the southern states are back in session in early August, freeing up the parks for us northerners.
Holiday weekends are another time to avoid since many locals go to the parks during that time.
The water parks are busiest on the weekends and the Magic Kingdom is busiest on Saturday, the day most people arrive and the park they usually visit first.

I have two favorites when it comes to books for Disney trip planning. The first is The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World by Bob Sehlinger with Len Testa.
This book has more details than any book I've read. This is actually one you could purchase then refer back to a couple years later. But don't let it get too outdated or you'll miss all that's new in the parks. The book is updated every year and the updates are highlighted. If you're a first-time Disney visitor or haven't been there in many years, this is a book you'll want to buy.
My other favorite book is the Passporter Walt Disney World. Now this is a book that I buy for every year that we go. This spiral bound hard cover has a wealth of information about planning. This book was named one of Disney Magazine's editors' favorite source for planning a trip to Walt Disney World. This book is made to take along with you. In the back of your Passporter are pockets where you can keep receipts or airline tickets. It also has 10 days worth of pages so you can journal about your trip and log information like weather, the best thing about the day, the funniest and the worst. This is a great feature for anyone who travels to Disney because you can write down little details you want to remember for your next trip. It's also a good way to remember what the weather was during that time of year. In one section, the rides and attractions are described and rated by authors Jennifer and Dave Marx. Their daughter rates the rides also. Passporters tend to sell out quickly at book stores and are harder to find the further into the year you get, so if you know you're going, purchase one early!

Recently in the news it was announced that Disney isn't suffering from a slow economy like many other businesses. And actually, they're revenue increased 33% for the first quarter of 2008.
I have a couple of theories on this.
The weakness of the U.S. dollar has prompted international travelers to flock to Orlando in droves, getting more for their money than they previously had.
Also, Disney has done a great job of offering vacation packages for every budget. In the early 1990's, more than half of Disney resorts were deluxe or premium priced. Now, 75% are moderate and value priced.
Value resorts in Disney are nothing like the "value priced" accommodations you find in other places where you may not get what you expected.
Disney's apparently a better bet than Las Vegas right now. A recent news story on MSNBC, claimed Vegas is struggling with gambling revenues down 4% and convention bookings down 10%.
Disney doesn't appear to be offering any more discounts than they do any other year, but they're apparently doing something right.

In my family, the jury is still out on whether a Disney Vacation Club is the answer to our future Disney trips with a growing family. It's become increasingly difficult to share a room for a week with 2 teens. And while we always say we'll just deal with it for a week, we usually leave our vacation wondering if in the future we should invest in a vacation club.
Future trips in the next couple of years will also include our oldest daughter and our granddaughter. Now that brings us to 6 total. At that point, just a room is no longer an option.
Disney's Vacation Club operates on a point system. The minimum amount of points you can purchase is 160 for a cost of just over $16,000. The vacation club is good for 50 years and can be transferred to your children or whoever else you want to leave it to.
For that amount of points, you can spend 10 nights in Disney per year, according to the Disney Vacation Club person I spoke with. You choose your vacation club resort based on how many people you need to accommodate. Depending on the time of year, that is how the points are charged. You'll be charged more points on weekends than during the week and peak season will also cost you more points.
Then there's the maintenance fees. They will cost you about $65 a month.
You also have to factor in the cost of financing the vacation club unless you plan to pay cash. If you don't use a home equity loan or line of credit to pay for your vacation club, you can expect to pay about 10% interest on the financing. OUCH!
So while doing my research and seeing the cost of this investment rising rapidly, I decided to check out booking a suite at one of the deluxe hotels that would accommodate six of us. I was again surprised when I saw the price range from $3,500 to $8,000! OUCH again!
Fortunately, our granddaughter is only 3 months old so we still have at least a couple years to make this decision.

It's always a nice surprise to arrive in Disney and find out you've been upgraded free of charge. There seems to be no pattern to Disney sprinkling a little pixie dust on your vacation, but it happens on a fairly regular basis.
Some upgrades are small like a water view instead of a woods view. This happened to my family in August 2004 when Hurricane Charlie forced us to drive instead of fly because the airport terminal was damaged and no flights were going in or out for days. We had booked a "woods view" at the Wilderness Lodge. We called the resort to let them know that because of the hurricane, we'd be driving and arriving very late. We were given a room with a view of Bay Lake, overlooking the dock where the boat picks you up for the Magic Kingdom. My guess is Disney wanted to add a little magic to a trip that was starting out on the wrong foot.
In December I booked a package with a room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. The Savannah view rooms (where you can watch the animals from your balcony) were not available when I booked. So I booked a standard view room. Our flight arrived early in the morning and our room wasn't ready when we arrived. We got our park passes and were told to come back at 3 p.m. and our room would be ready. When we returned, we had a room overlooking the Savannah. Now these are nice little surprises! But I've heard talk about upgrades at deluxe hotels that include being upgraded to concierge or club level. I've also heard about upgrades from value resorts to deluxe resorts, though they appear to be a little more rare.
The only advice I have on upping your chances for a free upgrade, is letting Disney know (when you make your reservation) if you or anyone in your family is celebrating anything while there, such as a birthday, anniversary or graduation.

It's not hard to find characters in Disney. They're everywhere. But to get an up close visit with a specific character, you might have to do some planning.

If you don't want to stand in line at the parks with your child waiting for a photo opportunity with a character, you may want to consider a character meal. Chef Mickey's at The Contemporary has Chef Mickey Mouse, Chip and Dale and Chef Goofy and the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom has Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eyore. While you dine on good food at these restaurants, the characters make their way around the tables to interact with you and your children.

One of my favorite places for a character meal is the Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom. Here you'll find family-style dining on smoked pork loin, turkey and roast beef, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls and butter. Oh and for dessert, warm cherry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. One nice thing about Liberty Tree Tavern is that for many of the character meals in Disney you must make advance reservations, sometimes you can get a reservation at the Liberty Tree Tavern by checking with them when they open. If you definitely want to dine there, by all means, make the reservation, but depending on the time of year and crowd levels, you might be able to get a reservation when you arrive.

On our Disneymoon in 2004, my husband and I walked into the Magic Kingdom donning our bride and groom ears, a tell-tale sign we were newlyweds. A cast member stopped us and asked if we had made plans for dinner. We said we hadn't. She told us to go to Cinderella's Castle right away and they would make sure they found a seating for us. We did, and at 4 p.m. that day we were eating at Cinderella's Royal Table in the Castle. Our table was decorated with confetti and after dinner and dessert, we were brought a boxed "wedding gift" from The Castle. It was a pair of champagne flutes that said Cinderella's Royal Table.

Whether you're celebrating an occasion or just want some up close interaction with Disney characters, booking a character meal is the way to go.

"We're going to Disney World." The words my kids wait every year to hear. Now that our trips have become yearly, our daughters have come to expect the yearly dose of magic. And although we've vacationed a few other places, you can't capture these kind of smiles anywhere but Disney.

There's the "I'm getting dessert with my dinner every night" faces.

A picture with her favorite Disney princess (even if she had to stand in line with a bunch of 5-year-olds!)

And it's not just the kids having fun....

My husband gets in on the fun in Disney MGM Studios as he seized the opportunity to play Gene Kelly "Singing In The Rain." The umbrella came complete with a rain shower!

The saddest faces are on the last day when it's time to say goodbye till next year~

Part of planning your Disney vacation is deciding what tickets to buy. You can include your tickets in your package if your booking through Disney or any other travel agent, but you still have to decide which ones are best suited for how you'll roam the World once you get there. The more days you stay, the less expensive the park ticket. The Magic Your Way base ticket gets you into one park per day. If you're going for 7 days, it breaks down to about $32.00 per day for an adult. And in Disney, adults are anyone 10 years old and older. I don't think you can get into any of the local amusement parks for that price. If you think you may want to go to more than one park a day or at least have that option, you'll want what's called a park hopper added to the ticket. That brings your price to just over $40. per day for an adult and just over $34 for a child 3-9. If you want to add options such as waterparks and Disney Quest, the amount only goes up about $5 per ticket. You also need to know that you'll be asked if you want the No Expiration option. If you're staying 7 days and planning to use the tickets every day, you don't need a no expiration option which costs more. The one benefit to adding tickets to your package if you're staying in a Disney Resort is that your park ticket is your room key and can also have charging priveledges added if you choose. Last year in the Animal Kingdom, my youngest daughter's ticket got lost when we forgot to take it out of the fast-pass machine. Since we were Disney resort guests, we just went to guest services in the park and they gave her another temporary ticket. When we got back to our resort, they issued another pass like the original with her name on it.
There are a couple Web sites where you can buy discounted tickets but after checking them out I didn't see much savings. For me, it's more about convenience. I'm not sure we would have been able to replace that park pass that was lost had we bought them online or stayed offsite and had regular paper tickets.

How do you choose where to stay when there's 22 themed resorts to choose from? Money always factors into the decision but even the deluxe resorts can be had at a fairly reasonable price at specific times of year. I've spent most of my Disney trips at moderate resorts. These are the middle of the road in price, location and amenities. So now it comes down to theming. The four choices include Port Orleans Riverside, a southern-style resort along the Sassagoula River with Mansions and lush gardens. It's sister resort, French Quarter, will give you a healthy taste of Mardi Gras. Riverside offers horse-drawn carriage rides at a very reasonable price. And from both Riverside and French Quarter you can take a boat ride to Downtown Disney, which is something not offered at any other resort. The Caribbean Beach resort has an Island theme. There you have the unique ability of mailing someone a coconut instead of a postcard.
Then there's the Coronado Springs, a Southwest style resort that boasts one of the best pools with a 46-foot tall pyramid and a cascading waterfall. So just when you think you've narrowed the choices down to four, the decision becomes more difficult because each resort offers something unique.